1 Samuel 23

David was told, “The Philistines are attacking Keilah and plundering the threshing floors.” So David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD said to David, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid here in Judah. How much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine battle lines!” David inquired of the LORD again, and the LORD answered him, “Get up and go down to Keilah, for I am giving the Philistines into your hand.” David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. They drove away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. When Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand. Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, and Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a city with gates and a bar.” Saul summoned all the people for battle, to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men. When David learned that Saul was secretly plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” Then David said, “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has indeed heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the men of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, please tell your servant.” The LORD said, “He will come down.” David asked, “Will the men of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” The LORD said, “They will hand you over.” So David and his men, about six hundred, got up and left Keilah, going wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up going out. David stayed in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand. David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was at Horesh in the wilderness of Ziph. Jonathan son of Saul set out and went to David at Horesh and strengthened his hand in God. He said to him, “Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. My father Saul knows this too.” The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David stayed at Horesh, and Jonathan went home. Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is David not hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, south of Jeshimon? Now, O king, come down whenever you desire, and we will hand him over to the king.” Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me. Go and make further preparations. Find out and see where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is very crafty. Find out about all the hiding places where he hides, and come back to me with certain information. Then I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.” So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told, he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. Saul heard about it and pursued David in the wilderness of Maon. Saul went along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them. Then a messenger came to Saul and said, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have raided the land!” So Saul turned back from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth. David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En-gedi.

Rights and attribution